Samsung audits its Chinese suppliers

On the wings of the latest attempts to fool the world into thinking human rights outweigh profits, Samsung has conducted audits of its suppliers in China and found several examples of “inadequate practices at the facilities”.

Apparently, these “practices” are along the lines of excessive overtime and fines for workers coming in late or not at all. Following in the footsteps of its favorite sparing partner, Apple, Samsung has conducted the audits after China Labor Watch's (CLW) report on dubious practices in the company's supply chain.

While there was at least no jumping off the roofs, CLW's report lists as many as 16 serious issues in Sammy's factories. These include forced and excessive overtime, exhausting working conditions (“standing for the entirety of their shift”), extensive labor contract violations, forced work without pay, inhumane treatment of workers, abuse of underage workers, severe discrimination, dependence on overtime “in order to make a living wage”, lack of effective complaint mechanisms, etc.

Samsung found only two, so the company is now openly mimicking Apple as well. It said it did not identify any “instance of child labor during the audits”. Perhaps they should've checked company playgrounds?

In response, the company requires all its suppliers to immediately adopt new hiring process. Again, we're not sure this will do anything other than fool the general public into thinking somebody cares for those poor souls who're assembling their shiny gadgets, but let's not pretend anyone will care come the next launch.